Surah 97 originally a Christmas carol?

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Posted by Christoph Heger on December 09, 1997 at 09:45:24:

Hello Ghounem, greetings to all,

In my contribution to the thread "Qur'an" I wondered why the vast majority of Muslim theologians were so extreme as to declare that the Qur'an be "uncreated and eternal" like a second god. I guessed the reason lies in early-Islam history: Jesus is called "the word of God" (kalimat Allah) in the Qur'an. And this idea of the word of god being god, i.e. uncreated and eternal, was made over from Jesus to the Qur'an.

I proposed to check this hypothesis by scrutinizing the Qur'an itself, especially those passages in which the Qur'an refers to itself -- or as the Muslims might prefer: where Allah refers to the Qur'an. One should look whether these passages wouldn't show a good or even better sense if one allows for the possibility that they originally didn't refer to the Qur'an at all, but to Jesus Christ. And I pointed to surah 97 (al-Qadr) as an example. It's my guess that in its original version it has been a Christmas carol.

Ghounem replied with an English translation of surah 97 which seemingly excluded any possibility that my guess could have hit the bull's eye.

Before I quote your translation, Ghounem, I should give a transliteration of the nowadays Arabic text:

BISMi LLAAHi R-RAKHMANi R-RAKHEEMi
1. 'INNAA ANZALNAA-HU FEE LAYLATi AL-QADRi
2. WA-MAA ADRAA-KA MAA LAYLATu AL-QADRi
3. LAYLATu AL-QADRi KHAYRun MIN 'ALFi SHAHRin
4. TANAZZALU AL-MALAA'IKATu
WA AR-ROOHu FEE-HAA
BI-'IDHNi RABBi-HIM MIN KULLi 'AMRin
5. SALAAM HIYA
HATTAA
MATLA'in AL-FAJRi

Now, you, Ghounem, maintained:

: The English translation of Chapter 97 is :

: In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

o.k.

: (1) "The Koran is revealed in the Month of Ramadam Month of fasting)."

: Christians do not fast for a month, so your hypothesis is already invalidated

I don't know how you come across this translation. There is no Ramadan or month of fasting in the verse! And therefore your conclusion about my hypothesis is void. The traditional and simple translation is according to the translators Yusufali, Pickthal and Shakir:

YUSUFALI: We have indeed revealed this (Message) in the Night of Power:
PICKTHAL: Lo! We revealed it on the Night of Predestination.
SHAKIR: Surely We revealed it on the grand night.

I personally would prefer to translate: "Lo! We revealed it on the Night of Destination."

: (2) "And what will make you comprehend what the grand night"

That's o.k., as our translators confirm:

YUSUFALI: And what will explain to thee what the night of power is?
PICKTHAL: Ah, what will convey unto thee what the Night of Power is?
SHAKIR: And what will make you comprehend what the grand night?

: (3) "Deeds imprinted with wisdom and piety such - like supplication, benevolence, pondering, acquirement of knowledge, performed at that night, merit a reward which outweighs the reward due for like deeds accomplished for one thousand months."

: Here "works" are clarified to be righteous and the path to God especially on the month of Ramadam, what Christmas carol says that.

This "translation" is mere phantasy. Look what our three translators have:

YUSUFALI: The Night of Power is better than a thousand months.
PICKTHAL: The Night of Power is better than a thousand months.
SHAKIR: The grand night is better than a thousand months.

: (4) "The angels and Gibreel descend in it by the permission of their Lord for every affair,"

There is no "Gibreel" mentioned in the verse. The Arabic word "rooh" is the English "spirit" or alike, and to understand it as the angel Gibreel is rather risky. Only Shakir has it:

YUSUFALI: Therein come down the angels and the Spirit by Allah's permission, on every errand.
PICKTHAL: The angels and the Spirit descend therein, by the permission of their Lord, with all decrees.
SHAKIR: The angels and Gibreel descend in it by the permission of their Lord for every affair.

: (5) "(The night is) Peace until the rising of the dawn."

o.k. Our translators have:

YUSUFALI: Peace!.This until the rise of morn!
PICKTHAL: (The night is) Peace until the rising of the dawn.
SHAKIR: Peace! it is till the break of the morning.

So far as translating the nowadays text of the Qur'an is concerned.

Now let us try to understand the reference to the Qur'an in verse (1) as a reference to Jesus Christ! We only have to read:

1. 'INNAHU ANZALA-HU FEE LAYLATi AL-QADRi

with two minor emendations of the face of the Arabic letter. This is translated:

1. Lo Him, He has sent down Him in the night of destination.

And we may continue as usually:

2. And what will convey unto thee what the Night of Power is?
3. The Night of Power is better than a thousand months.
4. The angels and the Spirit descend therein, by the permission of their Lord for every affair.

These verses immediately evoke the scene of Luke's second chapter and especially 2:13 with the "multitude of the heavenly host" (AL-MALAA'IKATu). Now it becomes clear what is meant by "AR-ROOHu", "the Spirit" -- it is the Holy Spirit, so that we have the Christian Holy Trinity alluded to in the above four verses by the words "He", "Him" and "the Spirit".

Allowing for the fact that vowel marks in Arabic are something like later comments and that there are good reasons from linguistics to look primarily at the consonant text (rasm text) we can confirm the idea a bit more. By reading TANAZZALA (perfect tense) instead of TANAZZALU (imperfect tense), what for some reasons of the Arabic grammar would be preferable, we have:

4. The angels and the Spirit descended therein, by the permission of their Lord for every affair.

The rest is as usual:

5. It (the night) is peace until the rising of the dawn."

I don't believe that "until the rising of the dawn" only means a chronological term -- the time, when the peace has gone --, but has to be connected with the eschatological topos, known from the Bible (Jes. 58,8; 60,1-3; 62; 1-2; 2 Petr. 1,19).

Kind regards,
Christoph Heger

Follow Ups:

Re: Surah 97 originally a Christmas carol? Mohamed Ghounem 12/09/97 (0)
Re: Surah 97 originally a Christmas carol? Mohamed Ghounem 12/09/97 (0)

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Subject : Re: Surah 97 originally a Christmas carol?

Comments:
: Hello Ghounem, greetings to all,

: In my contribution to the thread "Qur'an" I wondered why the vast majority of Muslim theologians were so extreme as to declare that the Qur'an be "uncreated and eternal" like a second god. I guessed the reason lies in early-Islam history: Jesus is called "the word of God" (kalimat Allah) in the Qur'an. And this idea of the word of god being god, i.e. uncreated and eternal, was made over from Jesus to the Qur'an.

: I proposed to check this hypothesis by scrutinizing the Qur'an itself, especially those passages in which the Qur'an refers to itself -- or as the Muslims might prefer: where Allah refers to the Qur'an. One should look whether these passages wouldn't show a good or even better sense if one allows for the possibility that they originally didn't refer to the Qur'an at all, but to Jesus Christ. And I pointed to surah 97 (al-Qadr) as an example. It's my guess that in its original version it has been a Christmas carol.

: Ghounem replied with an English translation of surah 97 which seemingly excluded any possibility that my guess could have hit the bull's eye.

: Before I quote your translation, Ghounem, I should give a transliteration of the nowadays Arabic text:

: BISMi LLAAHi R-RAKHMANi R-RAKHEEMi
: 1. 'INNAA ANZALNAA-HU FEE LAYLATi AL-QADRi
: 2. WA-MAA ADRAA-KA MAA LAYLATu AL-QADRi
: 3. LAYLATu AL-QADRi KHAYRun MIN 'ALFi SHAHRin
: 4. TANAZZALU AL-MALAA'IKATu
: WA AR-ROOHu FEE-HAA
: BI-'IDHNi RABBi-HIM MIN KULLi 'AMRin
: 5. SALAAM HIYA
: HATTAA
: MATLA'in AL-FAJRi

: Now, you, Ghounem, maintained:

: : The English translation of Chapter 97 is :

: : In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

: o.k.

: : (1) "The Koran is revealed in the Month of Ramadam Month of fasting)."

: : Christians do not fast for a month, so your hypothesis is already invalidated

: I don't know how you come across this translation. There is no Ramadan or month of fasting in the verse! And therefore your conclusion about my hypothesis is void. The traditional and simple translation is according to the translators Yusufali, Pickthal and Shakir:

: YUSUFALI: We have indeed revealed this (Message) in the Night of Power:
: PICKTHAL: Lo! We revealed it on the Night of Predestination.
: SHAKIR: Surely We revealed it on the grand night.

: I personally would prefer to translate: "Lo! We revealed it on the Night of Destination."

: : (2) "And what will make you comprehend what the grand night"

: That's o.k., as our translators confirm:

: YUSUFALI: And what will explain to thee what the night of power is?
: PICKTHAL: Ah, what will convey unto thee what the Night of Power is?
: SHAKIR: And what will make you comprehend what the grand night?

: : (3) "Deeds imprinted with wisdom and piety such - like supplication, benevolence, pondering, acquirement of knowledge, performed at that night, merit a reward which outweighs the reward due for like deeds accomplished for one thousand months."

: : Here "works" are clarified to be righteous and the path to God especially on the month of Ramadam, what Christmas carol says that.

: This "translation" is mere phantasy. Look what our three translators have:

: YUSUFALI: The Night of Power is better than a thousand months.
: PICKTHAL: The Night of Power is better than a thousand months.
: SHAKIR: The grand night is better than a thousand months.

: : (4) "The angels and Gibreel descend in it by the permission of their Lord for every affair,"

: There is no "Gibreel" mentioned in the verse. The Arabic word "rooh" is the English "spirit" or alike, and to understand it as the angel Gibreel is rather risky. Only Shakir has it:

: YUSUFALI: Therein come down the angels and the Spirit by Allah's permission, on every errand.
: PICKTHAL: The angels and the Spirit descend therein, by the permission of their Lord, with all decrees.
: SHAKIR: The angels and Gibreel descend in it by the permission of their Lord for every affair.

: : (5) "(The night is) Peace until the rising of the dawn."

: o.k. Our translators have:

: YUSUFALI: Peace!.This until the rise of morn!
: PICKTHAL: (The night is) Peace until the rising of the dawn.
: SHAKIR: Peace! it is till the break of the morning.

: So far as translating the nowadays text of the Qur'an is concerned.

: Now let us try to understand the reference to the Qur'an in verse (1) as a reference to Jesus Christ! We only have to read:

: 1. 'INNAHU ANZALA-HU FEE LAYLATi AL-QADRi

: with two minor emendations of the face of the Arabic letter. This is translated:

: 1. Lo Him, He has sent down Him in the night of destination.

: And we may continue as usually:

: 2. And what will convey unto thee what the Night of Power is?
: 3. The Night of Power is better than a thousand months.
: 4. The angels and the Spirit descend therein, by the permission of their Lord for every affair.

: These verses immediately evoke the scene of Luke's second chapter and especially 2:13 with the "multitude of the heavenly host" (AL-MALAA'IKATu). Now it becomes clear what is meant by "AR-ROOHu", "the Spirit" -- it is the Holy Spirit, so that we have the Christian Holy Trinity alluded to in the above four verses by the words "He", "Him" and "the Spirit".

: Allowing for the fact that vowel marks in Arabic are something like later comments and that there are good reasons from linguistics to look primarily at the consonant text (rasm text) we can confirm the idea a bit more. By reading TANAZZALA (perfect tense) instead of TANAZZALU (imperfect tense), what for some reasons of the Arabic grammar would be preferable, we have:

: 4. The angels and the Spirit descended therein, by the permission of their Lord for every affair.

: The rest is as usual:

: 5. It (the night) is peace until the rising of the dawn."

: I don't believe that "until the rising of the dawn" only means a chronological term -- the time, when the peace has gone --, but has to be connected with the eschatological topos, known from the Bible (Jes. 58,8; 60,1-3; 62; 1-2; 2 Petr. 1,19).

: Kind regards,
: Christoph Heger

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